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Tanjong Pagar United

Full name	Tanjong Pagar United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Jaguars
Short name	TPU
Founded	1974; 50 years ago (1974) as Tiong Bahru Constituency Sports Club 1996; 28 years ago (1996) as Tiong Bahru United 1998; 26 years ago (1998) as Tanjong Pagar United
Ground	Jurong East Stadium
Capacity	2,700
Chairman	Raymond Tang
Head Coach	Noh Alam Shah
League	Singapore Premier League
2023	Singapore Premier League, 8th of 9
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Tanjong Pagar United Football Club is a professional football club based in Queenstown, Singapore. The club currently competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singaporean football.

Tanjong Pagar United took part in the S.League from 1996 to 2004, and from 2011 to 2014. The club withdrew from the league after the 2004 season because of financial problems, but returned in 2011, with several similar breaks meanwhile. The club has since returned from 2020 onwards.

History

Early years and formation (1974–1996)

Prior to the formation of the S.League, the club were formed as Tiong Bahru Constituency Sports Club in 1975 and debuted in Division III of the National Football League, from which they were promoted as champions in 1978. This was followed by a second successive promotion in 1979, bringing the Jaguars to Division I. In 1982, they won the President's Cup and the following year, they were national league champions. They represented Singapore in the 1984 ASEAN Club Games, finishing third, then captured The Double in 1987.

The early 1990s saw further successes, as they were Pools Cup winners in 1991 and 1993, finished runners-up in the FAS Premier League from 1991 to 1993 and bagged the FA Cup in 1994.

S. League era (1996–2004)

Their strong performances led to their selection as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly 1996 S.League season, so they were renamed to Tiong Bahru Football Club and obtained a permanent home at the Queenstown Stadium.

In 1998, the club changed it named to Tanjong Pagar United and Lim Tong Hai captained the club in its debut season to a Singapore Cup and Singapore FA Cup double.

Dissolvement (2004–2010)

In the 2004 season, Tanjong Pagar United went through a period of difficult times where they sit at the bottom of the league table throughout the entire season. They manage to record a total of 4 wins, 5 draws and 18 losses thus seeing the club being dissolved at the end of the season due to financial problems where France defender Gimmy Bade was converted to the play in the forward position for some matches. At the end of the season, All of the club foreign players, Gimmy Bade and Jean-Marc Audemar, Benoît Salviat and Nicodeme Boucher eventually left the club.

Return of the club (2011–2014)

In the 2011 season, Tanjong Pagar United replaced Beijing Guoan Talent for the S.League spot and therefore returned to action after a six years hiatus. The Jaguars signed Korean duo Kim Seong-kyu and Kim Jong-oh, Japanese Takaya Kawanabe from J1 League side, Omiya Ardija and France player, Cyril Bagnost. The Jaguars finished the season with 3 wins, 5 draws and 27 losses finishing in 11th out of 12th position in the league.

In the 2012 season. Tanjong Pagar United bought in Gilbert Bayonne, Carlos Delgado and Anthony Aymard in which they ended their season without any slight improvement finishing in the season at the same spot.

In the 2013 season, Tanjong Pagar United reached an agreement with France head coach Patrick Vallee in which he signs France-Algerian forward duoIsmaël Benahmed and Kamel Ramdani, Brazilian-France goalkeeper Aurélien Hérisson, Moroccan Monsef Zerka and retaining Anthony Aymard for the season. The Jaguars season turned out pretty well where they finished in 6th spot out of 12th position in the league. In the 2014 season, The Jaguars signed Sébastien Etiemble to replace Ismaël Benahmed which left for USM Bel Abbès.

Second dissolvement (2015–2019)

The Jaguars also signed Germany youngster Lucas Jester for the Prime League squad. Tanjong Pagar United managed to finished in 9th spot out of 12th in the 2014 S.League which they had to dissolved the club at the end of the season due to another financial problems.

In 2017, the owners of Tanjong Pagar United stated their intent to return to Singapore Premier League for the 2019 season, and in November 2017 applied to FAS to rejoin the league. On the same month, the team also appeals to continue their jackpot operations, which is the source of club's income, after new regulations by the Ministry of Home Affairs forced the club to wind down their operations. But after their appeals were rejected by Ministry of Home Affairs and were ordered to shut down their jackpot operations in April 2018, as of September 2019, there were no further updates from the club regarding this intent.

Returned to action (2020–present)

On 16 January 2020, the Football Association of Singapore confirms Tanjong Pagar United's participation in the 2020 Singapore Premier League season signing Japanese duo Takahiro Tanaka and Shodai Nishikawa and also Brazilians duo Luiz Júnior and Yann Motta. Tanjong Pagar United went on to have their best finished in the league finishing in fifth place during the 2021 season. In the 2023 season, Singaporean star player, Khairul Amri received the "Goal of the Year" award while playing for the club which he scored an scissors kick against Hougang United in a 2–1 away win on 6 April 2023.

On 26 April 2024, Tanjong Pagar United sign Zenivio from Cambodian club, Kirivong Sok Sen Chey in which he became the first Timorese player to play in the league. The club also signed former player Shodai Nishikawa for the 2024–25 season.

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Sponsors

Period	Kit Supplier	Main Sponsors
1996	Adidas	Canon
1997	Puma
1998–2002		JVC
2002–2004	Lotto
2010–2011	Thorb	Michezo Group
2012		No sponsors
2013–2014		SINGA Energy Drink
2020		No sponsors
2021	Adhoc Apparel	Tokyo Century
2022–2023	FBT
2024–present		No sponsors

Stadium

The Jaguars initially played their home games at the Queenstown Stadium since 1970 which can held up to a total of 3,800 spectators however as the Queenstown Stadium was occupied since 2010 by French club Étoile, Tanjong Pagar United was temporarily based at Clementi Stadium for the duration of the 2011 season. However, due to Étoile FC's withdrawal from the league by the end of the 2011 season, Tanjong Pagar United shifted back to Queenstown Stadium for the 2012 season. Ever since they reinstalled back into the league in 2020, they will share the Jurong East Stadium with Albirex Niigata (S) instead.

Players

First-team squad

As of 30 Aug 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SGP Prathip Ekamparam 2 DF  SGP Farid Jafri 3 DF  SGP Shahrin Saberin 5 DF  SGP Syed Akmal 6 MF  SGP Azim Akbar 8 MF  SGP Rezza Rezky (on loan from BG Tampines Rovers) 9 FW  FRA Salif Cissé 10 MF  JPN Tomoki Wada 11 FW  TLS Zenivio 14 MF  SGP Umar Ramle

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  SGP Faizal Roslan (Vice Captain) 16 MF  SGP Daniel Elfian 17 FW  SGP Syahadat Masnawi 18 GK  SGP Fashah Iskandar 19 DF  UZB Timur Talipov 21 MF  SRB Stefan Paunović 22 DF  SGP Akram Azman (Captain) 25 MF  JPN Shodai Nishikawa 28 GK  SGP Riki Kimura 32 FW  SGP Sahil Suhaimi

Under-21s and Academy

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 51 MF  SGP Ahmad Danial 52 MF  SGP Aloysius Pang 53 DF  SGP Jeevesh Harikumar 54 MF  ENG Casey Seddon 55 DF  NZL Curtis Gray 56 FW  IDN Fariz Fadilla Lubis 57 DF  SGP Ihsan Hadi Iswandi 58 DF  SGP Aiqel Aliman 59 MF  SGP Arsyad Basiron 60 FW  SGP Ithar 61 FW  SGP Miqdad Shah 62 FW  SGP Risvi Aaqil

No. Pos. Nation Player 63 GK  SGP Ryan Effendy 64 DF  SGP Rayyan Ramzdan 65 DF  SGP Rizqin Aniq 66 FW  SGP Saiful Azhar Saifuddin 67 MF  SGP Shahruny 68 FW  SGP Taressh Kannan 69 DF  SGP Tarunn Kannan 70 DF  SGP Theo Linden 71 DF  SGP Uvayn Kumar 72 DF  SGP Bradly Yap 73 MF  AUS Thorsten Takashi Cross

On Loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 MF  SGP Naufal Ilham (National Service till 2025) 8 MF  SGP Fathullah Rahmat (National Service till 2025, to Young Lions FC) 62 DF  SGP Ikram Mikhail Mustaqim (National Service till 2025, to Young Lions FC) 7 FW  SGP Zahil Rahman (National Service till 2026) 12 MF  SGP Anaqi Ismit (National Service till 2026)

Management and staff

Management

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Noh Alam Shah
Asssistant coach	Kazuhito Mochizuki
Goalkeeping coach	Fajar Sarib
Technical advisor	Hasrin Jailani
Fitness coach	Hafiz Osman
Youth coach	Ridhuan Muhammad
Academy manager	Jaslee Hatta
Physiotherapist	Fadhli Hussein
Kitman	Azwan Hishamuddin

Honours

Bold is for those competition that are currently active.

Former managers

Manager	Period	Achievements
P. N. Sivaji	1996
Robert Alberts	1996–1998
Tohari Paijan	1998–2002	1998 Singapore FA Cup
Moey Yoke Ham	2003–2004
Karim Bencherifa	2004
Dissolvement (2004–2010)
Terry Pathmanathan	2011–2012
Patrick Vallée	2012–2014
Dissolvement (2015–2019)
Hairi Su'ap	2020
Hasrin Jailani	2020–2024
Hyrizan Jufri	2024–present

Seasons

• The 1996 season of the S.League was split into two series. Tiger Beer Series winners Geylang United defeated Pioneer Series winners Singapore Armed Forces in the Championship playoff to clinch the S.League title.
• 2003 saw the introduction of penalty shoot-outs if a match ended in a draw in regular time. Winners of penalty shoot-outs gained two points instead of one.
• Tanjong Pagar United sat out the S.League from 2005 to 2010, and withdrew from the competition between 2015 and 2019.

Statistics and records

As of 25 August 2024.

Top 10 all-time appearances

Rank	Player	Years	Club appearances
1	Asraf Rashid	2012–2015	82
2	Delwinder Singh	2011–2012, 2020–2021	77
3	Hanafi Salleh	2012–2015	74
	Shodai Nishikawa	2020–2022, 2024–present
5	Blake Ricciuto	2021–2023	72
6	Aurélien Hérisson	2013–2015	74
7	Raihan Rahman	2020–2023	67
8	Monsef Zerka	2013–2014	65
9	Zahid Ahmad	1997, 2012–2014	64
	Khairul Amri	2021–2023

Top 10 all-time scorers

Rank	Player	Club appearances	Total goals
1	Reo Nishiguchi	51	39
2	Monsef Zerka	65	33
3	Kamel Ramdani	57	20
4	Luiz Júnior	32	18
5	Takaya Kawanabe	58	15
6	Khairul Amri	61	14
7	Blake Ricciuto	70	13
	Shodai Nishikawa	74
10	Sébastien Etiemble	32	11
	Ismaël Benahmed	34

• Biggest Wins: 8–1 vs Young Lions (1 October 2022)
• Heaviest Defeats: 9–0 vs Tampines Rovers (16 March 2004)
• Youngest Goal scorers: Arisman Arman ~ 18 years 10 months 17 days old (On 19 June 2011 vs Young Lions)
• Oldest Goal scorers: Daniel Bennett ~ 44 years 7 months 27 days old (On 3 September 2022 vs Hougang United)
• Youngest ever debutant: George Thomas ~ 16 years 9 months 29 days old (On 10 April 2023 vs Albirex Niigata (S))

References

1. ^ "FAS confirms Tanjong Pagar United's participation in the 2020 SPL season". Goal. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
2. Ong, Terence (4 November 2014). "Jaguars to sit out next S-League season, Rams to merge with Hougang". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
3. Low, Lin Fhoong (5 November 2014). "Uncertainty over S-League's changes for 2015". Today. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
4. Malathi Das and Palakrishnan (1996), "S.League: the kick-off", Singapore Professional Football League Pte Ltd, p. 56
5. "Football: Jaguars confident of S-League return by 2019". The Straits Times. 26 June 2017.
6. Osman, Shamir (10 November 2017). "Gombak, Tanjong Pagar apply to rejoin S.League in 2019". The Straits Times.
7. "Seven clubs with jackpot machines to wind down operations by April 2018 - CNA". Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
8. "Football: Tanjong Pagar and Gombak United will soon exist only on paper as appeals fail". The Straits Times. 25 July 2018.
9. "SPL 2023 Transfer Centre: Tanjong Pagar United". Singapore Premier League. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.

External links

• Official club website
• Official club Facebook site
• Official club Twitter site
• S.League website page on Tanjong Pagar United FC

• Tanjong Pagar United FC
• Football clubs in Singapore
• 1974 establishments in Singapore
• Singapore Premier League clubs